A Remnant Without Heroes
by TheRunedEXP
Summary: The world of Remnant is in it's greatest era of peace. The War of Grimm's End concluded 20 years ago, and mankind has been able to flourish ever since. Conflict is at it's all time low. Remnant has no more need for heroes. Jaune Arc came from a family of heroes, and he has felt out of place for his entire life. His only choice is to find a place to belong at any cost.
1. Prologue: I Feel Alive

**~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

Mornings are a lot like trying to walk with a sprained ankle. It's a daunting task that tires you out and a lot more than a pain in the backside, but you've gotta do it anyway. Thankfully, walking with a sprained ankle isn't a permanent thing and hopefully goes away without a hitch in about a week.

In contrast, for me at least, mornings don't go away so simply. Rather, I find myself waking up in a cold sweat whenever I realise I'm conscious after what's hopefully a good night sleep. The cold air around me is like a tribe of bandits trying to destroy the wall I put up to protect myself, with the wall around me being a simple comfort I take for granted far too often: my blanket.

With a toss and turn, I try and find that sweet spot for the crook in my neck and the pillow in front of me, 'cause hey, being able to drift off is one of life's most blissful activities.

 _ **RINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRINGring-**_

"Nono, go away, just lemme have another ten…"

With my index finger, I try and make a downwards swiping motion which tells the alarm to [Sound off again in 15 minutes]. Come on… Don't make me open my eyes here… Just… Hurry up and…

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Lifting my head up towards the direction of the incessant ringing and lifting myself to all fours in one fluid motion, I make my best possible mimicry of a wolf, and leap towards my prey-

 _ **THUMP!**_

"Owww…"

...Only to find myself pitifully kissing the floor after I passed through the alarm window. The bastard is still ringing, just to clarify. Still in my face. It's set to keep eye level and IN MY FACE to make sure I don't sleep through it. The stupid thing.

Finally managing to open my eyes after my intimate moment with the floor, my downwards swipe finally stopped the damn ringing. Ugh. I may hate the damn thing, but my sisters always said I've been a heavy sleeper.

After limping my way over to the bathroom, cringing at the sudden influx of light after flipping the switch, and starting the constant sound of running water in the shower to fill the void of the horrendous ringing, I make a triangle shape with my thumb, index and middle finger, and three seconds, the home screen window pops up about a foot in front of my face, unlike the three or four inches the alarm was.

After a few taps and swipes, I finally find the messaging app full of notifications.

" _Hey sweetie, I hope you're doing well over at Vale…"_

" _Beacon Academy as cool as it looks in the pictures, son? It better be, considering all the money we've sunk..."_

" _Big bro, big bro! You won't believe how tall I've gotten after just 4 months! You'll see for yourself when you get home..."_

" _Don't be too ashamed if you have to return home after the first semester twerp. Our hopes aren't too high, as always."_

I feel the scowl on my face scrunch up the more messages I read, and the big downwards swipe with my left hand makes the pity-fest go away. No point in reading the same message 9 times, no thank you... That's my family, alright… Just me with my Mom, Dad and seven sisters.

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

It's a Saturday, so there aren't any classes this morning. The morning breeze feels nice enough for a casual stroll through the city unlike in the Summer. And every time I'm not cooped up in the apartment or falling asleep at a lecture at Beacon, I find myself being captivated by the bustling city of Vale.

Living inside of the protective walls of one of the four kingdoms is much different from being at a village, even if it was a big one. Sure, It's easier to camp out and enjoy the wonderous nature that's literally everywhere, and yeah, internet reception has gotten a lot better over the years, but as someone who had lived 16 years of his life out where forests and fresh air all around, being inside is just… Ironically, a breath of fresh air.

Being someone from the villages, you tend to hike every month or so, since well, there's hills EVERYWHERE, and comparatively, the walk around the city is pretty chill. There's several things to do here, from selections of libraries, to restaurants from all cultures, a dance club here and there, but most importantly to me, and especially me….

PC Bangs. Ever since we've gotten overly reliant on these devices on the back of our necks, we've gone away from home tech, and even TV's since we can just get all of the data transmitted to either our visual or audio receptors in our brains, but there's just something about old school PC's that feel so great. It's like going to an arcade for the first time, except amplified tenfold.

I'll never get tired of walking into the sight of the dimly lit building, illuminated mostly by the glow of old school LED monitors. I'd even say it has a homey feel to it, comforting even if I over exaggerated a little.

It's a damn better home than the one I have back in the village, that's for sure.

Depending on how quickly you walk from the dorms and how lucky you are with the airship, it's usually a 15 minute round trip to the nearest PC Bang, the Qrows Nest, and it's probably the most popular PC Bang since it's the nearest one to Beacon Academy. I've learned the hard way the first time around that I've gotta get here early to secure a seat, since it usually goes full house around noon, and a seat won't open up til dark if you really want to spend some time here.

And anyone who goes here regularly will tell the same story: "The hours fly by without you realizing it."

And while I share the sentiment, there's a lot more than that keeping me coming back to the congregation of gamers. Something is here that feels like a fire burning up inside me… And I like it. This place is more than just a place for people to have fun, but a place for people to push themselves in a way they hadn't before.

With a chime, the entrance doors slide open, and I'm greeted by the regular sight of Qrow Branwen, owner of the Qrow's Nest: Vale's most popular PC Bang. Why he decided to do this for his main source of income instead of a bar, I'll never know.

"Heya kid. Same seat?"

"You know it. Your nieces come by today?" I make a gesture with three fingers, swiping them from left-to-right horizontally, temporarily sending my Scroll Identification (SID) for him to use.

Beep. "Nah, you know those two. Always busybodies as always. Should I set you for six hours?" He's already typing away at the keyboard behind his desk."

"Ehh, just set me for two this time. I'll swing by if I need more."

"Sure thing." A brief moment of silence passes by us, only occupied by the typing behind his desk and the other 40 or so patrons in the building. "So uh…"

"Hm? What's up?"

"You speak to your folks lately?"

Ugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that-"

"I'm talking _more_ than just reading their messages when you receive them. Communication _is_ a two-way street after all, Jaune."

"I _know,_ it's just… Well…"

Now he's crossed his arms, eyebrow cocked in an inquisitive manner. "Well what?"

"I always get a bad taste in my mouth whenever I speak with one of them… Like I'm always being looked down on."

"Ah." He reached into his jacked to get his flask. That's when you knew he was dropping the current conversation. "Well, if you ever do, tell em I say hi. Try 'n have fun today, kiddo." He makes a horizontal right-to-left gesture with his right hand, and the temporary SID is nullified.

"Sure thing, Qrow."

"Hey, I may not be a blood relative, but I'm a good friend of your folks. I'd like to think I'm your Uncle at least."

Waving him off, I make my way to my usual spot.

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

 _ **Your base is under attack.**_

Only in games can you really embrace the full meaning of competition.

Just what do I see in competitive gaming?

 _ **You must construct additional pylons.**_ "Damn it."

It's the embodiment of competition, a perfect playing field.

The experience of an athletic sport, all without the need for athletic genes, rabid parents, tutting tutors, or expensive summer camps.

No expectations from anyone, no disappointing stares. All that garbage, you set for yourself wherever the hell you want. You can walk amongst the populace or rise so high that saying "the sky is the limit" wouldn't give your performance justice.

 _ **Research complete.**_

You pick up the game on your own. You learn. You improve. You work.

If you're good enough, you can become a god.

And if you fail, you stay a nobody.

And as the patrons learned over the past 3 months of me being here, I'm the furthest thing from a nobody.

 _ **VICTORY!**_

 _ **Yellow_Death**_

 _ **[Score Screen]**_

 _ **[Return to Game]**_

I'm not the disappointing middle child of a family of ten when I'm in front of the monitor.

Here, I intend to experience life to the fullest, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean, at least.

And boy, I feel so damn alive right now.

Taking off my headphones, I see Qrow in my peripheral vision, and he has a rather pleased look on his face. He has his left hand behind his back "So how did ya like that game?"

"It's by far the most difficult 1v1 game I've ever touched. I'm surprised I'm able to have this much fun after only playing it for a week."

"Yeah, it's was pretty big back in the day. You ready to move on to the next one or are you still in the mood to play this?"

"Let's do it, hit me with your best shot!"

Reaching over my shoulder, Qrow puts down a square thing with a flat surface, and it has a pen tethered with a cable attached.

"Answer one question for me kid. How good are you at rhythm games?"

At the time, I didn't know what I was getting into, but it was obvious I needed to clock out another 2 hours for myself.

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**


	2. Chapter 1: A Challenger Approaches

Chapter 1: Determinism

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

 _Ruby Rose_

 _Ms. Goodwitch_

 _WRT 101_

 _14th of November, 20PGE_

 _Technology In The Past Two Decades_

 _The Cross Continental Transmit System: Humanity's beacons of hope for over half a century. They led not only to accelerated progress of like minds on Remnant, but also served as a reminder why our kingdoms must be at peace._

 _After Grimm's End twenty years ago, the success of the CCTS only grew tenfold when the support towers throughout the continents had no Grimm to worry about, finally giving even the smallest of villages scroll signals. Our progress kept stacking onto one another tenfold._

 _Within only five years after Grimm's End, even the scrolls have been revolutionized into what we now call the Neuro-Linker, a device placed on the back of a person's neck, sending signals to the brain's five senses through the spine. This completely removed the need of an on-screen interface, and a window you would usually see on a computer or scroll would instead pop up within a foot of your face, and you could literally reach out and use your fingers to interact with the window as if it were real._

 _At first, the devices ran off of batteries and lasted about a week at a time at full charge, but the charge time and Dust consumption seemed inefficient at the prototype stage. However, at this time, Atlas had made a breakthrough in Aura research, revealing all living beings had Aura flowing through them, albeit a small amount compared to huntsmen for reasons unknown to the populace. The small amount was able to be used as a power source for the Neuro-Linker as opposed to electricity and Dust cartridges, the latter of which was kept in the design for an emergency Aura discharge that imitated an amplified Aura barrier if a person's life were ever in danger._

 _Even with the technological advances that came after Grimm's End, humanity has not managed to make the necessary strides to achieve space flight. This stops not only our knowledge of outer space, but also prevents us from setting up Satellites which would serve not only as an alternative to the CCTS, On a positive note, this lets the four towers serve their first two purposes when it was built: Unifying humanity and promoting peace between the four kingdoms._

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

Beacon Academy Cafeteria:

"Ugh! How in the world did I get a 74% on that essay?!" Ruby Rose had strewn the paper onto the desk in front of her in frustration. She had spent a good week on the research, and this damn thing was stressing her out ever since it was assigned.

"Well, let's see here." Yang Xiao Long reached for the paper from the other side of the desk and scanned the paper. "Scattered formatting, shitty conclusion, a few switches to second person POV here and there, and mentioning concepts when they weren't relevant.. Wow, I'm surprised you got a 74% on it." She tossed the paper like a frisbee across the table to Ruby's side. "It shoulda been lower."

Ruby put on a sad look and a pout. "You're not exactly helping here, Yang."

"Oh! I know what will though." She reached down to the left side of her chair, and came back to the table with two lunches on hand. "It's your favorite~"

Begrudgingly, the younger of the two accepted the lunchbox, unzipped it, and- "COOKIES!" The headache and stress of the essay from earlier was gone in an instant.

"Glad to see some things never change." As Ruby indulged herself with the plethora of cookies, Yang noticed a certain fellow blond walking by, and he looked very absorbed in whatever is in front of him, his eyes darting back and forth with his right index finger swiping left and right in thin air.

Standing up from her chair, Yang cupped her hands in front of her mouth and- "YO! JAUNE! WHATS UP!?"

The reaction was immediate: Jaune tripped over nothing at all and the next thing everyone saw was a teenage blond having an intimate moment with the floor. Everyone who took notice of it either cringed or laughed at him. "Oww…."

Being one of the cringers and feeling bad for making him trip, Yang made her way over to offer Jaune her hand. "You okay there, Vomit-Boy?"

Absentmindedly taking it, Jaune was still absorbed in the window in front of him. "I guess, if reinforcing my position as Beacon's Klutz is your idea of okay. It'd make me feel a bit better if you'd stop calling me that nickname though."

"Eh, it could be worse. At least you're not Crater Face," Yang pointed a thumb in Ruby's direction. "And you could have done not-so-well on Ms. Goodwitch's essay like Klutz #2 over there on top of that."

As Yang, with a smug look on her face, and Jaune, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, made their way to the table, Ruby only stuck her tongue out at them. "That nickname is as old as Dust. And it's not my fault that woman is a stickler! Who the heck uses paper these days anyway?"

Jaune took a seat next to Ruby. "Ah, you dropped the ball on that one too?" He shifted in his backpack to retrieve a similar looking paper with a big 68% on it. "At least you did better than me."

"Ugh, this school will drive me up the wall! Oobleck is up next, and I'm so not prepared for this," Ruby gave out a cry of despair as anime tears fell down her cheeks.

With a left swipe of his hand, Jaune smiled apologetically as he sent out an invitation for a word document to Ruby. "Surprisingly, I took a few good notes of this chapter. You're free to look at them if you need to."

As she watched Ruby lazily poke at thin air in front of her, Yang noticed a notification from [Uncle Qrow] in her messaging app.

 _Q; Bring Ruby with you to the Crow's Nest today._

Raising an eyebrow at that, Yang typed out her reply.

 _Y: You finally found "the next one"?_

 _Q: Maybe. You two will see for yourselves. Just make sure it's before 5:00pm._

'Ah, I'll tell her later,' Yang thought to herself. Looking up from the window, she can only smile as she sees Ruby and Jaune sharing a laugh.

Chime!

 _Q: And make sure no one knows you're coming._ Yang raised an eyebrow at that.

 _Y: As in "that goes for Ruby too until the last minute," kind of secrecy?_

 _Q: The exact one. You know how big of a mouth the pipsqueak has._

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**

Downtown Vale:

After lunch, the two girls had parted their ways with Jaune to experience hell in their other classes. It was the most prominent academy on their continent, previously being the place that gave birth to the future huntsmen and huntresses charged with the task of defending humanity, but in the days of peace there was no more need for heroes. Still, the big four academies on Remnant persisted on the part where the young are educated to be ready for the future.

"...And by the time it starts snowing, I'll have our sled-boards ready!" Ruby pumped her fist up in the air, as if to exemplify how awesome the upcoming vacation will be.

"You know, it's awesome that you made a mecha-shift for something that goes between a bobsled and a snowboard, but wouldn't it be easier to make something like a motorcycle that turns into a snowmobile?"

Ruby put on that pout again. 'I'm no good with stuff with engines, Yang… And besides, you can go from either riding solo or having a fun ride with a buddy."

Yang flipped her hair to the side like she was making a point. "Well, when you finish that engineering degree, you'd better make something on that level of awesome when we get to it."

Looking straight ahead, the sign for the Crow's Nest is visible, just over the next block. "Well, we're here." Yang flipped through some windows in front of her interface to retrieve her SID. "Let's see what's got Uncle Qrow all worked up."

Ruby followed suit with Yang in retrieving her SID. "It must be really important if he called us over. He knows how bored we get over here."

With a chime, the entrance doors slid open in response to the girls approaching them.

As per usual with the few PC Bangs still open on Remnant, the immediate sight of a bunch of teenagers in front of LED screens with their hands on mice and keyboards were the first thing the girls saw. Instead of kids poking at windows in the air from their Neuro-Linkers or lying down in booths while playing Virtual Reality Full Dive games, the gamers in this building are purely tactile, complete with headphones covering their ears. The constant sound of keyboard clacking and mouse clicks persisted throughout the building like an orchestra's string players tuning their instruments.

"Well, at least we can say it isn't too rowdy in here," Ruby said while keeping an eye out for the messy hair of her Uncle.

Yang didn't waste time searching. "If it's as important as he put it, he'll be cooped up in his main office."

As the two teenagers made their way across the interior of the building and eventually entered Qrow's man-cave, Yang could swear she recognized someone at the desk closest to the office.

"Hey old man. Looks like this place is holding up well." The door closed behind the two girls, and their uncle was hunched over with an LED screen in front of him.

"Not funny," the dusty old Qrow said, not even turning his head to greet the two girls. He offered a cable to each of the girls. "That's for the Social Camera I have trained on our candidate. Keep an eye on it while we see his handiwork live."

Ruby took a look at the LED screen. "Osu? That old rhythm game? Uncle, I know we're trying to find people with high reaction times, but a game like this just turns to muscle memory and reflexes even at the highest level of play."

"Just shut up and plug in, both of you." Qrow wasn't playing any games here. If the two girls were skeptical of Qrow's find before, they both knew his vote of confidence was on this one.

When the cables were plugged into the Neuro Linkers and the Social Camera window popped up for both of them, their responses were immediate.

"JAUNE?!"

"Shhhh! He's right there! He'll hear you," Qrow said in a hushed voice with an index finger in front of his lips, and another index finger pointed at the door to the main floor.

"But- but- He's-" The two girls were only flabbergasted at this point.

"Shh!" The middle aged man was having none of it. He reached over to his side and had a sip from his flask.

On the LED, they could see Jaune flipping through the song list. He settled on a particular one

 **The Quick Brown Fox - The Big Black** (A/N: If you are unfamiliar with osu!, I recommend you go onto YouTube and search up a video of someone playing this particular song, either WubWolfWoof or Cookiezi.)

Qrow unplugged his headphones and the sound was redirected to the speakers.

" _Riddle me this,_

 _Riddle me that…_

"Okay, if he's playing Osu and we're supposed to judge him off this, The Big Black has become a staple by now. Sure you have to be pretty good to execute it, but it's done to death." Ruby spoke out as someone rather skilled in rhythm games, Osu in particular.

"Well here's the funny part then" Qrow's arms were crossed and he rotated his spinning chair so he could face the two, and the girls are finally getting a good look of how haggard their uncle was despite his smug smile. "He's only learned how to play the game yesterday." His words rung in the room and a moment of silence grasped the three of them.

 _Whos Afraid of The Big Black-"_

"WHAT?!" The two had the same exact thought of disbelief

With the sound of a crashing cymbal, the song kicked off at it's overwhelming speed of 360 BPM. Within the first 20 seconds, he's retaining a 200 hit combo with 100% accuracy. Osu isn't a game of mashing the hit button to execute the notes; there's a window of time made up of literal fractions of seconds to get a perfect "300" for the note. And Jaune was hitting them flawlessly. **As a novice.**

"No, there's no way! He has to be doing _that_!" Yang was in complete denial. Underneath her breath, she muttered two words. "/urst Li/…" For a second, she had a blank stare, then she blinked and then turned to look at Qrow. "He wasn't there… He's not a…" She jerked her head back to the monitor. He's still going at it with immaculate performance.

"Pay attention to his cursor. He's not moving it in advance. He can't even read the map properly." He turned to his two nieces. "It's all reaction. In it's raw form."

The three can only watch in awe as the song reaches it's halfway point, with no notes on the screen and a built in break period. Unexpectedly, the pause screen comes up, and Jaune Arc can be heard through the speakers.

"Uhh, Qrow? You got another ice pack I can use? My left hand's starting to hurt again."

Qrow put a finger to a window in front of him. "Yeah, give me a minute kid. You should really take a break sometime; I don't want you getting carpal tunnel in just two days.

"But this game is too much fun!" The girls could only sweatdrop at that. Yup, it was Jaune alright. "I'm having a bigger blast than Starcraft 2!"

"Alright, hang in there, kid." Qrow's finger pulled away from the thin air in front of him.

"...Starcraft?" The two girls stared at their lowly-rate role model.

A sigh escaped the uncle's lips before he took another swig of his drink. "It's a long story. Now, while you two are waiting here," he gave a knowing look to Yang, "I suggest _you_ help Ruby get the Install program ready."

The sisters looked at each other before Ruby spoke up again. "Does this mean that…"

"Yup," Qrow drawled as he finished the last drop of whatever is in the flask. "He's our next Burst Linker for sure.

 **~A Remnant Without Heroes~**


End file.
